Year: 1280–1337
Country: Mali
Wealth: Richer than anyone could describe
Mansa Musa, the king of Timbuktu, is often
referred to as the wealthiest person in history. According to Ferrum College
history professor Richard Smith, Musa’s west African kingdom was likely the
largest producer of gold in the world—at a time which gold was in especially
high demand.
Just how rich was Musa? There’s really no way to put
an accurate number on his wealth. Records are scarce, if non-existent, and
contemporary sources describe the king’s riches in terms that are impossible
for the time.
Some tales of his famous pilgrimage to Mecca—during
which Musa’s spending was so lavish that it caused a currency crisis in
Egypt—mention dozens of camels each carrying hundreds of pounds of gold. (Smith
says one year of Malian gold production probably generated about a ton.) Others
said Musa’s army consisted of 200,000 men, including 40,000 archers—troop
numbers even modern superpowers would have a difficult time bringing to the
field.
But to get caught up in the king’s exact wealth is to
miss the point. As Rudolph Ware, an associate professor of history at the
University of Michigan, explains, Musa’s riches were so immense that people
struggled to describe them.
“This is the richest guy anyone has ever seen, that’s
the point,” says Ware. “They’re trying to find words to explain that. There are
pictures of him holding a scepter of gold on a throne of gold holding a cup of
gold with a golden crown on his head. Imagine as much gold as you think a human
being could possess and double it, that’s what all the accounts are trying to
communicate.”
When no one can even comprehend your wealth, that
means you’re pretty darned rich.
Source: http://time.com/money/3977798/the-10-richest-people-of-all-time/
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